Think Outside the Box: Essential, Creative Techniques for School Counselors

Think Outside the Box: Essential, Creative Techniques for School Counselors Ed Jacobs, Ph.D. West Virginia University

The Brain Likes Novelty • What did you learn? Talk / Listen Counseling Focus on Feelings • How Creative Are You? 1—10 Scale • What Advertisers Know • Talk to the Student’s Eyes

Common Mistakes of School Counselors— Your BOX • Reflect more than necessary • Listen to too many stories • Rarely interrupt student • Take too long to focus the session • Is not theory driven • Is not creative THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

The Four M’s of Impact Therapy • Multisensory • Motivational • Marketing • Maps

What Kind of Player Are You? Friday Night Player Saturday Player Sunday Player - has courage and thinksoutside the box

Essential Creative Techniques: Props • Cups • Rubber Band • $1 • Shield • Eyore and Tigger • Fuses

Essential Creative Techniques: Using Chairs Creatively • To represent goals • Holding on to chair • To represent choices • To represent people • To represent parts of personality

Essential Creative Techniques: Using Small Chair The small chair is the prop that I use the most. Sunday players will get a small chair (elementary counselors already have them).

Using Chairs for Gestalt Technique • There is tremendous power in presentizing a discussion about someone. • Clients benefit from dialoging with themselves (changing seats).

Essential Creative Techniques: Creative Use of Writing • Ratings—1-10 Parents, Effort in School, etc • The power of the sentence: Thoughts cause feelings..

Not True----------True Grid Not True ______ True_______ I am a failure I made a B which I am never going to which means I have amount to anything. to study more. One B does not determine the rest of my life _______________________________________ BadBetter

WDEP W—What do you want? D—What are you currently doing? E—Evaluate –How is what you’re doing getting you what you want? (This is always it is not.) P—Plan—Let’s work on a plan to get you what you want.

WDEP • W—I hope to be a doctor. • D—I’m smoking dope, skipping, school, not studying, and I don’t turn in assignments. I hang out with people who have no college aspirations. • E—It’s not working for me. I’m failing. • P—Plan—Go to school; hang out with positive people; do homework right after school.

Creative Use of Drawings • Small box—Big Box

Enmeshed Circles

Timelines 10 x x x x x x 1 2yrs 1yr 6 mo 3mo now

Essential Creative Techniques: Creative Movement Techniques There is value in getting students to move out of their seat. • Being held back • Moving to other (better) seat • Going in circles • Counselor stand in chair

A KEY FOR EFFECTIVE LIVING Get your expectations in line with reality

Questions Regarding Thinking Outside the Box • Are you a Sunday Player? Do you want to be? It takes Deliberate Practice • What are you going to do differently next week? • What keeps you from being more creative? • What will be the hardest thing for you to overcome regarding using some of the ideas presented.

More Information To contact me for workshops, information, etc: • Ed Jacobs, 457 Broadway Avenue, Star City, WV 26505; 304-599-0109 • Ed.Jacobs@mail.wvu.edu • edjacobs@impacttherapy.com • Book/CD’s orders—www.impacttherapy.com • Summer workshop—www.impacttherapy.com

What You Need to Know • Grief Counseling • Stages of Change • Parenting models • Drugs and Alcohol • Counseling theories • Panic Attacks • OCD

Which Kid Are You?

Think Outside the Box: Essential, Creative Techniques for School Counselors